Stringed musical instrument.



J. BOHMAN N STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED 'MAR. 9, 1914.

Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

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JOSEPH BOI-IMANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed March 8, 1914.

T 0 Cali whom it may concern Be it known that I, Josnrrr BOHMANN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCool; and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulTmproven'ients in Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to a novel form of tail pieceor means for holding the ends of the strings, and to a hand rest, whichparts are in some instances combined to form a convenient andsubstantial construction. It is particularly applicable to suchinstruments as mandolins, harp-guitars,or the like, although, of courseit may be used on various similar types of instruments.

The objects of this invention are to provide a simple and convenientmeans for fastening the strings which will securely hold the endsthereof and tend to improve the tone of the instrument, such fasteningdevice being arranged so that it will protect the players hands from thescrews with which the strings engage.

Another object is to provide a simple and convenient form of hand restwhich may be readily adjusted, or changed for different positions.

My improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which showthem as applied to an instrument such as a harpguitar, which has acomparatively large number of strings.

In these drawings: Figure 1 is a top view of the main body portion ofthe instrument; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on theline 2, 2 of Fig. 1, shown on an enlarged scale.

As illustrated in these drawings, 3 repre sents the body of aninstrument to which is attached my improved tail piece or string holdingdevice 1. Two of these devices are shown in Fig. 1, these being arrangedin the proper manner for the different strings of the instrument, but itwill only be necessary to describe one of them. The tail piece or stringholder i is preferably made of a single piece of wood or other suitablematerial, with a flat portion 5 which rests upon the top of the body,and which may be se cured thereto in any desired manner. This fiatportion is made somewhat in the form of two ovals, meeting alongadjacent edges as will be readily seen from Fig. 1. The

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1&15.

Serial No. 223,430.

rear portion 6 is provided with a plurality of screws or the like 7, towhich the ends of the strings S are secured. Such rear portion is alsoprovided with an upwardly extending guard 9, which is curved backwardlyaround the end screws a suiiicient amount to protect the hands of theplayer from coming in contact with such s ews.

The front oval portion 10 is provided with a plurality of screws 11,which may be properly arranged to give the desired length to thestrings, each string being passed around one of these forward screwsafter being fas tened to a rear screw. The forward oval portion 10 isalso provided with an upwardly extending guard 12, similar to the guard9, which protects the player from coming in contact with the forwardscrews. The two guards 9 and 12 are substantially coincident or unitedthrough the central portion of the holder, and holes 13, are providedthrough this central portion for the passage of the strings. By means ofthis arrangement it will be seen that the strings may be fastened to theouter set of screws, then passed through the holes and one turn takenaround a forward screw, and then passed over the bridge 14, and fromthence to the tuning pegs. The strain on the strings is distributedbetween the forward screws and the rear ones and such forward screwsdetermine the effective length of the strings regardless of theconnection from thence to the rear screws to which the ends of thestrings are attached.

One end of the bridge 14 is provided with a hole 15 for receiving a pin16 which fits loosely therein, and is secured to a lever 17. This leverextends at one end out over the strings to the front of the bridge,where it is enlarged to form a head 18, which has a plurality of holes19 therein for receiving a screw 20 on the button or hand rest proper21. The plurality of holes provides for lateral adjustment of thebutton. The opposite end of the lever 17 is extended back over the tailpiece e, where it is enlarged to form a head 22 having a plurality ofholes 23 for receiving an adjusting thumb screw 2 This screw extendsdown through the head and engages with a threaded socket in the tailpiece 4-. A spring 26 is inserted between the socket 25 and the head 22in order to hold the parts closely together and prevent undue vibrationor chattering. The holes 23 provide for a further lateral adjustment ofthe rest 21 and the screw 24 provides for a vertical adjustment of thesame. By means of this arrangement it will be seen that I provide a handrest which can be conveniently arranged to suit different persons, andthe rest will not interfere with the tone of the instrument. It isparticularly applicable to instruments having a large number of stringswhere it is more or less difficult for the player to hold his hand inplaying position without some support. It will also be noted that thisdevice serves as a guide for the hand, as well as a rest, as it tends toproperly position the hand with respect to the strings of theinstrument. If desired, a further adjustment is obtained by removing thelever 17 and inserting the screw 20 into the hole 15 in the bridge 14,which brings the button 21 into the position indicated by dotted linesin Fig. 2.

This device may be readily changed or modified in order to suitdifferent types of instruments and, therefore, I do not wish to limitmyself to the exact construction shown and described, except asspecified in the following claims, in which I claim:

1. '1 he combination with a musical instrument having a tail piece andbridge, of a lever connected with the tail piece and bridge and a handrest secured to said lever.

2. The combination with a musical instrument having a bridge and a tailpiece, of a lever fulcrumed on said bridge and having one end thereofadjustably connected with said tail piece, and a hand rest secured tothe opposite end thereof.

3. The combination with a guitar or the like, of a lever pivotallyconnected with the bridge, a hand rest adjustably connected with one endof said lever and an adjustable connection between the opposite end ofthe lever and the tail piece of the instrument.

4-. A tail piece for musical instruments comprising a plate having rearscrews or the like, to which the ends of the strings are secured, andforward screws around which the strings are turned, and having front andrear guards extending above and partially around the series of screws.

5. A tail piecefor a string instrument comprising a plate, a series ofscrews or the like along one side of said plate and another series alongthe opposite side of the plate, with an integrally formed guardextending up and partially around the screws of both series, said guardhaving a plurality of holes through the portion thereof lying betweenthe screws, the arrangement being such that the ends of the strings maybe secured to the screws in one series and then passed -through saidholes, and then wound around the corresponding screws of the secondseries.

6. The combination with the body of a string instrument, of a platesecured to the top thereof, a series of screws or the like at the rearof said plate, a second series of screws at the front of the plate, anintegrally formed guard extending upward between said series and havingholes therethrough, and strings having their ends secured to the firstnamed screws and passing through the holes in said guard and woundaround the respective screws in the second named series and extendingfrom thence to the tuning pegs.

7. The combination with a guitar or the like, of a plate secured to thefront thereof, a series of screws at the back of the plate, a secondseries of screws at the front of the plate, an integrally formedguardextending up between said series of screws and projecting forwardlyand backwardly around the ends of the series, said guard having holestherethrough, a bridge and tuning pegs, strings having their endssecured to the screws in the first named series, and then passingthrough said holes and being wound around the respective screws in thesecond named series and then passing over the bridge to the tuning pegs,a threaded socket in said guard portion, a lever pivotally mounted onsaid bridge, a screw and spring for adjustably holding one end of saidlever in position with respect to the socket, and a hand rest at theopposite end of said lever.

JOSEPH BOHMANN.

Witnesses ANA'roL GoLLos, H. B. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C.

